Fitchburg woman to sing with Keith Urban

FITCHBURG — Twenty-three-year-old Whitney V. Doucet will be the envy of hundreds when she goes on stage at the Xfinity Center in Mansfield Saturday night to sing a duet with Keith Urban.

Ms. Doucet, an aspiring singer and songwriter, won the opportunity after her video of herself singing Urban's "We Were Us" was selected from hundreds of entries in a contest sponsored by Country 102.5 WKLB radio station.

Ms. Doucet said Urban's management picked the winning video.

The 2009 Fitchburg High School graduate said that when she received the call around 5 p.m. Thursday telling her that she had won, she, of course, screamed.

"I couldn't believe what I was hearing," she said, laughing. "My mom came in the room with the look on her face, like, 'That's the call we were waiting for.' As soon as I got off the phone we jumped up and down."

The next thing she did was call her father, David, who was at work.

"He basically screamed. I've never heard him that happy in my life," said Ms. Doucet.

Next, she ran across the street and banged on the door at the home of a friend who also sings.

"She and her mom opened the door, and I told them I won. Both their faces dropped to the floor. They both bought tickets. I'm pretty sure everyone in the family is going to the concert."

Ms. Doucet said she and the Grammy Award-winning country singer will be singing "We Were Us," which he and country singer Miranda Lambert sing on Urban's 2013 album "Fuse."

She was also given tickets for two front-row seats at Urban's "Raise 'em Up" concert as well as backstage meet-and-greet passes and a photo opp with the Australian country music star.

"My dad is coming with me because he's my biggest supporter, so I'm letting him come and enjoy the fun with me," she said. Her mother, Jo-Ann; brother, Adam; and boyfriend, David Baker of Fitchburg, will also attend the concert.

Ms. Doucet said she comes from a long line of musicians.

She said her 87-year-old grandfather, Leo LeBlanc of Fitchburg, is probably one of the best fiddle players around.

"My uncles were singers. My mom always told me that everyone in the family has been in bands. And, my mom is a good singer, but she won't do it in front of anyone else … just in the car."

Ms. Doucet said she has been singing for as long as she can remember, but not in front of others.

"I would always wait until everyone left the house and I'd go crank the radio up and sing at the top of my lungs. When I heard them come back, I'd turn the radio off and put the TV on like I wasn't singing. But I'm sure my neighbors heard me."

She said she wasn't comfortable singing in front of others until age 14, when she started taking singing lessons.

After she won a talent show as a freshman at Fitchburg High, she started taking voice lessons at Bristol Recording and Voice Studios in Boston. After she completed the program, the studio hired her as a voice teacher. She also works as a dog groomer at Paradise Pet Spa in Leominster.

Singing with the American Idol judge is the latest in a string of opportunities for Ms. Doucet. She has won contests that allowed her to sing the national anthem at a Boston Red Sox game and the New England Revolution and twice at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway. She is scheduled to sing at the New England Patriots game on Nov. 2.

One of the songs she wrote, "Summer Nights," rose to No. 9 on the top-40 chart on The Iceman Internet station in Rhode Island and Nashville. She is heading to Nashville this fall to record some of her songs.

She is also scheduled to be the headliner at the Johnny Appleseed festival in Leominster on Sept. 27.

David Doucet, her father, said she has come close in attempts to be selected for "American Idol," "The Xfactor," "The Voice," and "Rising Star."

"I've gone to Nashville with her and to New York City for a couple of tryouts. I've been there by her side," he said. "We can only hope and pray that she just keeps getting better and better. We just go with the flow and hope that it just continues to grow."